Ma'ja - The Girl Toyed With Fate
by Mr. Scary Cat
Summary: Ma'ja is a simple girl living in a simple village. Unlike the other villagers, she's a rare Ohmes-Raht, a Khajiit that looks like a human. This story is about how fate toys with her life, giving her destinies that are far beyond her own capability. Will she survive the ordeals that are thrown to her? Or will she die in the face of overwhelming odds?
1. Chapter 1

One night, I was outside sitting on the steps of my house looking at the stars, trying to calm my heart down. These nights I can't help but wonder, why was I born an Ohmes-Raht?

In my village, only I look different. My parents said that it was because of the moons, but why was I the only one? Even though a lot of our neighbors treat me nicely, I can feel their eyes look at me, and even whisper behind my back about me.

Just because I look like differently…

When I thought about what happened at dinner, my eyes can't help but tear up. Slowly my vision was being filled with nothing but tears. When I couldn't take it anymore, I started sobbing my heart out.

Earlier this night I had a fight with mama. She was saying that I should go to the city to find work. She was saying that if I wanted to earn a living by myself, I should go to school to learn to be an ambassador. Even if I feel like I'm singled-out by the village, I still don't want to go. But to think even mama wants me to go away… I just couldn't take it.

While I was crying, someone put their hand on top of my head. I looked up to see who it was, but my eyes were still blurry from the tears.

A sweet, serene voice entered my ears. "Ma'ja, I'm sorry for saying those things."

When I realized it was mama, my eyes started to tear up more.

I tried replying properly, but only a shaky voice left my mouth. "Y-you w-wanted t-to send m-me away."

"No Ma'ja, that's not what I mean."

"B-but you said."

While I was trying to make my words, mama suddenly hugged me.

"I'm sorry." she said, her voice slightly cracking, "I just wanted the best for you."

With every word, her voice shifted from serene to shaky. "I don't know how you'll make a living in this small village. But with your looks, I thought you could be trained as an ambassador. I thought that maybe at least you could escape this poverty-filled lifestyle. I thought, maybe you would be able to lift us, our village, from this."

While she was talking, mama tightened her grasp on me. "I'm sorry that I didn't think about your feelings, I didn't mean to get mad at you. I'm sorry."

When she said all this, my mind went blank. How could I be so selfish and throw a tantrum? I didn't know that mama was thinking about me.

With my weak, skinny arms, I hugged her back. "Don't cry mama, it's not your fault. I was being selfish, I wasn't thinking about you or the other villagers."

With every word, I tightened my hug, trying to fill myself with determination. "I will go to the city and become an ambassador."

Mama opened her eyes wide in shock. She released herself from our hug and looked at me, "No Ma'ja, Mama was being selfish, you shouldn't force yourself to—"

"I'm not forcing myself mama."

I looked straight into her eyes. "I want to help this village. If by going to the city, I could help make all of your lives better, then I should go."

"B-but."

"Mama, I want to do this."

Mama looked me into my eyes; she hugged me once more and told me, "If you ever get scared, you can always come back to the village."

I stroke her hair while replying, "I'll visit as often as I could."

With both of us sniffing from crying, my mom chuckled while standing up. "Come, it's cold out, we'll get sick if we stay any longer."

"Yes, that's true. I'll head back after a while. I'd like to watch the stars for a little while longer."

Mama wiped her tears with a handkerchief then gave it to me. "Wipe your tears, and don't stay up too late."

I wiped my own tears with said handkerchief and smiled. "I won't."

After watching her walk away, I resumed my star gazing.

In the night sky, the main character of the beautiful painting was Jone, the lesser moon. Jode was currently a new moon, so only Jone was the visible moon in the sky. Now that I noticed, Jone was actually at its waxing phase.

"Meaning another Ohmes-Raht is born tonight… right?"

I closed my eyes and clasp my hands to pray. "Azurah, may the Khajiit born under the sky be blessed with good fortune."

After praying, I went back inside our house. I didn't feel like finishing my dinner, so I cleaned up the table and then went straight to my room to go to sleep. Since I didn't have fur like other Khajiit, I needed thicker blankets to cover myself during the cold nights of of the desert.

While thinking about the future, I blew the candle and went to bed. For some time I could only stare blankly at the ceiling, but after a while my eyelids became heavy. When I couldn't resist the temptation of sleep anymore, I entered the world of dreams.

While in a half-awake state, I saw that there was light in the room. When I thought it was already sunrise, I smelled smoke in the air. My eyes went wide open and I became fully awake. I jumped out of bed and surveyed the surroundings, only to see the house is on fire.

The first thing I did was look for my mother. In the midst of the burning smoke, I put mama's handkerchief to my mouth to avoid breathing int the smoke. While, I was trying to avoid the burning wood, I kept calling out to her, "Mama! Where are you? Mama!"

My eyes started tearing up, but not because of the smoke. Even though our house was small, it took me forever to get to another room with all the fire around. When I reached mama's room, I found her buried under her bookshelf. "Mama!"

I quickly dashed to her and started lifting the bookshelf. Even though I had a weak body, I tried my best to lift the heavy bookshelf. "Don't worry Mama, I'll get you out!"

Even though she was coughing and wheezing horrendously, she still managed to get some words out. "Save… yourself Ma'ja."

I gritted my teeth while trying to lift it the best as I can. It seemingly won't budge even after I did my best. I looked around the room to see if there's anything I can use to lift it. At one corner of the room I found a chest and a sword. I pushed the chest near the bookshelf and used the sword as a lever. I pushed down on the sword using my whole weight. After pushing down, the bookshelf was lifted slightly. "Quick! Get out of there Mama!"

She wiggled her way out from under the bookshelf. When she was out, I release my strength from the sword and took it out, making the bookshelf fall once more. I quickly went to mama to check on her condition. Her eyes drifted to the sword I was holding. "I never thought your Papa's sword could save me again." She chuckled a bit, then started coughing violently.

"Mama! Don't speak, here." I gave her the handkerchief to cover her mouth with. I put her arm around my shoulder and helped her walk. At the door, I kicked it open and helped Mama get outside.

While we were catching our breath, we looked around and saw that our house wasn't the only thing burning. The fires of the village was reflected in our eyes. The whole village was burning down, without a single house to spare.

While we were looking around, we found some strangers clad in armor. They were Khajiit just like us, but what they were doing…

"What are you doing!?"

Before I could react, Mama shouted towards those men. When she did, those men looked back at us. Behind the men were Khajiit children tied up and gagged.

"We missed a house? Whatever, let's just get the job done."

They unsheathed their swords and started walking towards us. "You can drop the sword and come peacefully, or we can cut of a few limbs before taking you."

When I saw them slowly walking towards me, my hands started shaking profusely. I held Papa's sword with two hands, while pointing it towards the armored Khajiit. I couldn't help but think that I was scared.

When the men saw me put up a stance, they let out a disgusting laugh. "What the hell? You think a little girl like you can do against us?"

"Hey look, it's actually an Ohmes-Raht! Apparently we found a rare one, ha!"

While walked even closer towards me, I gripped the sword's handle even tighter. I was nervous; I never fought with a sword before. While a number of thoughts were quickly spinning inside my head, a hand was placed at my shoulder. I was surprised and looked at the person next to me.

"It's okay Ma'ja, I'm here too."

Mama tried to comfort me and gave me a smile. Inwardly that gave me a sense of security even though I know it's inevitable. I wanted to fight them. I don't want to be dragged off to somewhere without giving a fight.

While I was mentally preparing myself, the men stopped about ten steps away from me.

The one in the middle, a big Khajiit with a big sword and shield, spoke, "Put down the sword and quietly come with us, I assure you that it's the best option."

Ignoring him I shot him a stare full of determination.

He clicked his tongue and spat at the ground. "Suit yourself."

In an instant, he close the distance and hit my sword with a monstrous strength. My arms could take the force, making me release my grip on the sword. The sword was knocked to a far distance, a distance that wasn't close enough for me to reach.

I tried to run to the sword, but I was kicked on the stomach. I held my stomach and was writhing in pain at the ground. The man kicked me again once more, making me gag and cough. "Kill her."

My eyes went wide open. I looked at the other Khajiit nearing me; I closed my eyes while waiting for my impending death. But after a while, the steps went pass me. I opened my eyes in realization and look behind me.

"N-no!"

Before she could scream, she was hacked by the other Khajiit. They hacked and slashed at her, even though she was already dead. I looked on an horror; I screamed at the top of my lungs. "MAMA!"

I tried getting up, but was kicked down again by the big Khajiit. They tied me up and gagged me, just like the other children. They dragged me painfully towards their wagon, and loaded me like I was some sort of goods.

I stared blankly at my own village, smoke and fire rising into the sky. While looking on, my eyes began to tear up. I started crying so hard, that the armored people started kicking me to stop me from crying. I could only weep silently while I was mourning mama's death.

The wagon started moving away from the village. By the time the sun started to rise, only ashes remained of my village. I couldn't help but feel so utterly useless. I couldn't save mama, I couldn't save myself, I couldn't save anyone.

With me wallowing in regrets, the journey started, with us children Khajiit being carried as their goods. I didn't know if we were going to become slaves, but what I do know, is that our lives are no longer in our hands.

I deeply prayed inside my heart. "Azurah, please guide our souls."


	2. Chapter 2

The next few days were the worst experience. Apparently our village was only one of their targets. These people, who I've learned are an organization called The Blackwood Company, have been burning down villages left and right, capturing all the children and kill the adults.

The ride was bumpy, smelly, and rotten. We were all stacked on top of each other when we couldn't fit the carriage anymore. Our clothes were taken, though I no longer feel the embarrassment, as only the feeling of wanting to die was filled in my mind.

I wasn't the only Ohmes-Raht that they captured, there were three others who were captured. I was surprised to learn that Ohmes-Raht aren't that much of a rare thing, but I stopped caring after the first one.

The conditions of the carriage we were on were terrible. There were feces and urine all over, because we weren't even allowed to go to the bathroom, and were forced to relieve ourselves in here. We were given the minimum amount of food and water to survive, but other than that, we're completely mistreated.

On some nights, the men would grab a young girl and pass her around. I was lucky that they don't seem find Ohmes-Raht as attractive. "Too much like those men and mer." They said.

Over the course of the whole journey, there were several who died of hunger and dehydration. Of course whenever they found a dead body, they threw it away and let it be buried by the sands of the cruel desert.

At one time, a boy that was captured had an illness, and when the men found out about it, they immediately killed him and threw him off. Any one of us could die at any moment; I've been just lucky enough to live through it.

After about five days, the men stopped raiding villages. They went in one direction, only stopping to feed their camels, or occasionally to feed us. About another day, they stopped and started unloading us. When we were unloaded, I saw the sea.

My mother once told me stories about the sea, and how my dad was a cool sailor that fought against pirates. She said that the sea was a beautiful blue carpet, but all I see now was a large body of water.

Being outside though made me improve my mood. I no longer had to smell our own pee or poop or whatever else was inside there.

Near the shore, there were two ships, each large enough to carry my whole village, probably. After they unloaded us from the carriage, they immediately started loading us onto the ship. I just complied, not because of fearing that they would hurt or kill me, but because I couldn't be bothered to do anything else.

All of our collars were chained together, so when one of us tripped, the rest of us would be affected, and the process would slow down. While we were being loaded, a boy fell down, saying that he couldn't walk anymore. A Khajiit kicked him into the stomach and shouted at him to stand up. The boy wouldn't stand up, so the Khajiit took his scimitar and chopped the head off.

The surrounding boys and girls started screaming when they saw that. The captured Khajiit who were orderly boarding the ship went crazy, and oblivion broke out.

When I saw this commotion, my eyes sparked again. I immediately tried removing my collar, as well as my handcuffs. But before the situation escalated, some armored men came down from the boat and started beating us up. I was kicked three times before they stopped.

A big armored Khajiit went closer to the person who chopped off the child's head. "Shaava are you an idiot!?"

He started kicking the guy, and the other didn't retaliate. The rest of the armored Khajiit started beating him up too, leaving him in a sorry state.

After finishing the beating, the big Khajiit shouted at him once more. "These aren't fucking slaves that you can just kill! You really are a piece of shit y'know that!?"

So we aren't slaves? What are they doing capturing us then? While I was pondering that, several people came down from the other ship. Unlike the men who captured us, these people weren't Khajiit; they were Argonians.

"How many are here?" said one of the Lizards.

"There's about three hundred." replied the big cat, "Don't worry, they'll fit under the ships."

"Make sure all of them are placed on board. Around half will die with the voyage, so we need to make this count."

"Yeah, yeah."

The lizard and cat were talking like they were colleagues instead of being superior and subordinate. After a while, they restored order and started boarding us once again.

When it was my turn to board, I was placed on between two Khajiit, and apparently one of them was an Ohmes-Raht. Of course my curiosity died out a couple of days ago, so there's no way I would try to make conversation in this situation.

All of us were placed lying on our stomach, while our hands and feet were tied. Our bodies were positioned to make sure that we would be able to eat, drink, and breathe. After the last one was boarded, the ship sailed to Azurah knows where.

The ship was smelly, and had dead rotting rats all over the place. In a couple of days into the voyage, it started to smell like urine again. It was essentially the same as the journey in the desert, except it was much more humid.

By a few more days, some started to rot, and it took another day to notice the dead bodies. Another day there was a storm, and because of the water coming in from outside, a couple also drowned. Whenever a young Khajiit dies, their body would be taken and be thrown overboard.

By the end of the journey, what the lizard said was true; only half would survive. In our ship, around half died from either hunger, drowning, or something else. Once we landed, we were once again taken by the necks. When we stepped onto the land, it was no longer the warm sands of Elsweyr.

The soil I felt under my feet was cold and hard. The trees I saw were bigger and leafier than any palm tree I saw back home. It was no longer dry, but humid.

After a while, a bunch of people came out from the jungle, more Argonians. These ones were different though, they looked much scarier than our captors. They had pale white scales, and unlike our captors, they had long yellow fangs reaching to their neck. When they walked closer, I notice that they were actually extremely tall, around a head and a half taller than big cat.

While those "Argonians" were walking towards us, I overheard the lizard talking to the big cat.

"Ugh, these Veeskhleel-Tzel Nagas are repulsive as always."

"Yes, Jotokir agrees."

The Nagas came closer and inspected each and every one of us. There was even one that sniffed my hair. When it was close to my face, I only realized that they had deep red eyes, the color of blood.

Once they stopped inspecting, they talked amongst themselves. I couldn't recognize the language they used, they sounded like gibberish to me.

"Gah-Lei, what are they saying?"

"I can only make out a few words, but they seem to be talking about their quality."

"Quality? These fuckers should buy them regardless of their fucking quality."

"Shh, it seems they're done talking."

The Nagas did stop talking, and looked intently at the lizard, Gah-Lei. One of them approached Gah-Lei and said something to him. When Gah-Lei heard this, his eyes went wide open.

"Well? What did they say?"

Gah-Lei looked back at Jotokir and said, "Ru—"

Before finishing a single word, the Naga sliced his neck using his claws. With that, the rest of the Nagas started attacking, and even more came from the jungle to act as reinforcements.

Faced with this betrayal, Jotokir went mad with rage. He started a rampage against the Naga, but eventually was brutally stabbed to death.

All of us captives were confused, if this was some sort of deal, why did they kill them? After a couple of minutes, all of our captors died by their hands, while there were no casualties on their side. They started pulling on our collars, leading us like a long human train. I couldn't help my curiosity, so I shouted at them, "Why!?"

The Nagas stopped and looked back at me. With all those piercing red eyes staring back at me, I forced myself to finish my question. "Why did you kill them?"

One of the Nagas went near me. This one slowly opened his mouth. A disgusting reptilian voice came out of his mouth. "Need more fertilizer for Hist, we use them."

I was momentarily shocked by its response. Using bodies as fertilizer? What kind of sick creatures are they? But before anything else, I asked another question. "What will happen to us?"

The Naga licked its lips before replying, "Not, allowed, to die."

After speaking those words, they continued to pull us along deeper into the jungle. I didn't get what that meant, but after a while I realized what it meant.

"A life worse than death…"

I obediently followed the Nagas into the jungle, with each step heavier than the last.


End file.
